In recent years, fears of a new cold war between the United States and China have been proliferating. But the tensions between the two powers would be better described as a “cool war,” characterized not by old-fashioned spheres of interest, proxy wars, and the threat of “mutually assured destruction,” but by an unprecedented combination of wide-ranging competition and deep interconnection.

China’s economic growth is expected to have slowed to just over 6% this year, and it is unlikely to accelerate anytime soon. In fact, economic commentators generally agree that China’s economic performance in 2019 – the worst in nearly 30 years – could be the best for at least a decade. What observers can’t seem to agree on is how worried China should be, or what policymakers can do to improve growth prospects.

The economy of the United States appears to be in a slide that will continue through 2020. If he expects to win re-election, the U.S. president must find a way to stop it. Ending the trade war with China is a key step.

America has been grossly interfering with economic cooperation in the region, attempting to reinforce a false perception that Beijing poses a threat.

The opening of the ‘Power of Siberia’ pipeline represents another development in the Sino-Russian relationship. The pragmatic strategic partnership in Eurasia will only continue to obstruct US foreign policy throughout the continent.

China and the U.S. relationship, while strained, remains the most important bilateral relationship in the world today. The 2020 election will surely revolve around it.

The US and its courts are extending a long arm of interference around the globe, heaping untold complexity on many Chinese companies.

New growth engines often evolve slower than the old growth drivers fade away, but they’re coming, even though the economy may linger at the low end for a while.

The US and the West can excoriate China all it wants on China’s debt traps, lack of transparency, and pernicious diplomacy. But unless the US and the west come up with better solutions, that dirt road, for the developing world, is still a dirt road.

China has gifted security technology to a number of foreign nations, stretching from Ecuador in South America to Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia. Whether such technologies are part of China’s BRI efforts to construct ‘a community of common destiny’ or are backed by some other ulterior motive is unclear.